Palliative Care

Our palliative care experts are here for you during the entire cancer care process. Our goal is to help you live your best quality of life throughout your diagnosis and treatment.

The palliative care team emphasizes patient-centered care. You and your loved ones have many decisions to make. At Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, conversations about your diagnosis and treatment options happen with you, not for you.

Palliative Care for Cancer: Why Choose Vanderbilt-Ingram

Our palliative care team at Vanderbilt-Ingram gets to know you and what makes you unique. We work with your healthcare providers to develop a plan tailored to meet your needs, whether in the hospital or at home.

Our palliative care team provides:

Expert staff: Our palliative care doctors and nurse practitioners are specially trained in this field. They work alongside your cancer specialists and other team members to help you live your best quality of life.

Patient-centered care: Our goal is to provide physical, emotional and spiritual support during your care. It is common to feel many different emotions throughout the cancer care process. We strive to understand your concerns and offer you support.

Options for inpatient and outpatient care: In addition to the full range of palliative care services for patients in the hospital, we also have an outpatient palliative care center located in our cancer center. This team helps to manage symptoms, discuss goals and navigate decisions.

Shared decision-making: Our palliative care experts, together with your cancer specialist, will communicate important information about your diagnosis, treatment and options so that you can make the best decisions for you.

Ongoing care: Palliative care works best when we partner with you early on in the care process. We will continue to work with you based on your needs throughout your treatment.

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is a medical specialty that helps people facing a serious illness live their best quality of life. Ideally, we get to know our patients at diagnosis. We work along with the cancer specialists to treat distressing symptoms, communicate about your care and support you throughout the treatment process. We want you to feel your best during your cancer treatment.

Common topics that palliative care can address include:

How will this cancer impact my life?

What services are available to me to help?

What resources are available to ensure I am at my best physically and emotionally?

How can I feel my best during treatment?

What is most important as I undergo treatment?

What do I need to do to be fully prepared if I am unable to make my medical decisions?